street art & graffiti in belgrade: ecological potentials?

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Emergence of StudiesSAUC - Journal V6 - N2

1. Introduction: Environmental art

Art has always been connected to the natural world - with its

origins using natural materials and representing the living

world. But somewhere in the 1960s in the USA and the UK,

a new set of practices emerged, redefining environmental

art, and moving away from traditional art history and

representation. Land or Earth Art took artists and art lovers

to nature itself, bringing it in its crude form into gallery

spaces, collaborating with nature and challenging the very

nature of an artwork. This happened in conjunction with

post-WWII avantgarde and conceptual practices. Unlike

environmental art, a more recent trend called ecological

art, or eco art, is less concerned about aesthetics and the

use of natural materials, but rather mixing art, science and

technology, proposing activism and practical bio-social

solutions for our environment. Artist researcher mirko

nikolić1, in his PhD about ecological aesthetics, sees this

art approach as going beyond human selfishness, towards

posthumanism, and incorporating matters such as climate

and social justice (see: nikolić, 2016).

1 - Original capitalization.

Of course, sometimes clear distinctions are hard to make,

but for the sake of explaining the basic principles, a good

example between the terms and practices could be seen

in the two illustrations below. The first one, The crack of

something (Figure 2), uses natural material - wood - which

is processed and presented as a temporary installation,

as part of an art residency program Ars Kozara set in the

National park on Kozara mountain. Its physical longevity

depends on the natural and human factors, under constant

state of decay, and its reading lies in poetic reference

to cracks in the source material. In a critique of all the

artworks produced during the residency, Stojsavljević and

Anćufejev state that the artists are passivizing the role of

nature, by using it just as a raw material and creating a new,

artistic nature, where “the artwork is more the expression

of the artist” than nature itself (Stojsavljević and Anćufejev,

2013).

Street Art & Graffiti in Belgrade:

Ecological Potentials?

Srđan TunićSTAW BLGRD - Street Art Walks Belgrade, Serbia

[email protected], srdjantunic.wordpress.com

Abstract

Since the emergence of the global contemporary graffiti and street art, urban spaces have become filled with a variety

of techniques and art pieces, whether as a beautification method, commemorative and community art, or even activism.

Ecology has also been a small part of this, with growing concern over our environment’s health (as well as our own),

disappearing living species and habitats, and trying to imagine a better, less destructive humankind (see: Arrieta, 2014).

But, how can this art - based mostly on aerosol spray cans and thus not very eco-friendly - in urban spaces contribute to

ecological awareness? Do nature, animal and plant motifs pave a way towards understanding the environment, or simply

serve as aesthetic statements? This paper will examine these questions with the example of Belgrade, Serbia, and several

local (but also global) practices. This text is based on ongoing research as part of Street Art Walks Belgrade project (STAW

BLGRD) and interviews with a group of artists.

Keywords: street art, graffiti, ecology, environmental art, belgrade

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This one belongs more in the environmental art category,

while a still of the video from we - copper & copper - us:

mineralizacija project offers a more complex involvement

(Figure 3). There, the source material goes between actual

human involvement with nature - extraction of copper by

the metal industry in Bor, the scientific and other processes

that accompany it, presented as multimedia, still with an

artistic or poetic reading behind it. As an example of eco art,

it tackles many ongoing theoretical discussions, such as the

notion of anti-extractivism (nikolić, 2016: 241). Although

the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, I will

use environmental art (Martinique, 2016; Tunnacliffe,

2016: 17) because it covers a wide range of practices and is

more applicable to the subject in question.

Figure 1. Plant a tree – Send a message. Artez. Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©LSD Magazine.

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Figure 2. Pucanje nečega (The crack of something). Ars Kozara: art in nature laboratory #7, 2014. Goran Čupić. Mountain Kozara, Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photograph ©Ars Kozara.

Figure 3. Blue stone synthesis experiment with Dr. Aleksandra Mitovski. Performance

documentation, we - copper & copper - us: mineralizacija. mirko nikolić. Bor, Serbia, 2016. Photograph ©Duško Jelen.

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Trying to pin down strict definitions of both graffiti and

street art might turn out to be too complex, having in mind

numerous and fluctuating readings. Relying on the research

by Ljiljana Radošević, who has been following street art and

graffiti in Belgrade and Serbia in the last 20 years, both

street art and graffiti belong to public art (or art in public

space, urban art), fluctuating between a subculture and fine

art movement, lifestyle and art practices (Radošević, 2012).

However, there are many similarities between them - in her

research which tackles terminological issues she states: “It

goes without saying that graffiti and street art are closely

connected and intertwined: sometimes they share the

same walls, the same artists and the same techniques, but

most of the time they produce a different visual material”

(Radošević, 2012). While the graffiti movement has roots

in 1970s US subculture, street art emerged later, mixing

the graffiti heritage with visual arts (also see: Norvaišaitė,

2014: 9-11). For this paper, I will focus on artworks made

on walls - murals, made by artists predominantly working in

the field of graffiti and street art in Serbia.

In both street art and graffiti (SAG), there is a plethora of

nature and animal motifs, while a breakthrough in more

ecologically aware techniques appeared in the mid 2000s.

A set of practices labelled as reverse graffiti offered the

technique of removing layers of dirt to create messages and

images. It is also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime

writing, clean graffiti, green graffiti or clean advertising.

Because of this, it has been accepted in green marketing

(Figure 4). Another technique, moss graffiti combines

stencils and moss paste to leave less invasive marks in

public areas. Some other artists started using discarded

materials in the form of recycled art, such as Bordalo II

(Figure 5). These techniques remain rare in the graffiti and

street art world, and are predominantly tied to themes

such as urban pollution, exploring biodegradable materials,

and making the urban environment more green (Bambić,

2014b; Norvaišaitė, 2016).

This trend does pose a few questions and challenges for

more traditional styles, techniques and forms. On the one

hand, graffiti and most street art is based on aerosol paint


Figure 4. Green works. Paul Curtis, a.k.a. Moose. San Francisco, 2009. Photograph ©Wide Walls, 2014.

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Figure 5. The Swift/Apus Apus. Bordallo II. Lodz, 2015.

Photograph ©I Support Street Art, 2015.

and the use of industrial spray cans. New eco practices are

far removed from this approach, distancing themselves

from the non-eco-friendly aspects of spray cans, such

as waste, presence of heavy metals, and poisonous

chemicals. However, both share great visibility in public

space, potent direct communication, and are ephemeral

at the core.

2. Case Study: Belgrade

If not originally rooted in these new environmental

practices, is it still possible to have graffiti and street

art that raises awareness of ecology? I would argue that

it is possible, if we see graffiti and street art as part of

the urban ecosystem. Metaphorically, this often non-

permitted artform grows like purslane from cracks in

concrete, on walls and other surfaces, covering spaces

from small corners to whole facades. It both pollutes

the visual field like weeds and serves as a beautification

method. It can serve a similar need like growing a plant

or keeping a pet, where we nurture a connection with

nature around or far removed from us.

Belgrade is the birthplace of graffiti and street art in

Serbia, with roots in the mid 1980s, expanding only in mid

1990s during the student protests against the Milošević

regime. From the original letters of graffiti subculture,

characters of street art, and traditional mural painting,

this city also offers environmental motifs taken from

flora and fauna. It goes without saying that just by simply

depicting a natural motif, a work does not automatically

have ecological messages. However, by diving deeper into

the artists’ oeuvre, one can note ecological potentials,

apart from manifest eco murals, which I aim to support.

In several examples, I would also pay attention to how

artist intention relates to interpretation of the work, and

what could be done to make this eco reading potentially

more clear.

For the purpose of this text, several active street artists

were contacted based on the presence of natural motifs

in their work and nine out of twenty responded to a

survey via Instagram between autumn 2019 and spring

2020. All are actively producing SAG, whether coming

from (visual) arts, the very subculture of graffiti or other

backgrounds: Jana, wrnkl, Lunar, Piros, Junk, ZEZ lunatic,

Artez, Quam and Brva. Most have been active for the last

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decade, or longer, and all but one operate from Belgrade.

This does not at all cover all the street art and graffiti artists

operating in Belgrade, or Serbia, with a potential ecological

reading.

The survey was designed to discover more about the

reasons and meanings behind the animal and plant motifs

present in their works, as well as messages artists wanted

to communicate in the streets. The focus on motivation,

motifs and messages, as well ecological potentials, is

echoing Veronika Norvaišaitė’s approach in her study

Environmental Communication in Street Art: Motivations

& Messages of Reverse Graffiti Creators, where she

interviewed artists and green companies utilizing reversed

graffiti around the world. In grounding a certain ecological

practice, it is necessary to understand the messages

communicated behind certain motifs (Norvaišaitė, 2016:

62). Motifs are also important because, according to

nikolić, environmental art imports nature into culture,

e.g. by depicting nature and/or using it as raw material

(nikolić, 2016: 46-52).2 In this process, nature is considered

as something taken from the outside, while more radical

eco-orientated art sees nature as part of a “cohabitation

of agencies, human and other-than-human” (nikolić, 2016:

51). Following their leads, chapters The Elm-Chanted

Forest and Urban Jungle will mostly tackle the use of

nature’s symbology, as subject-matter, through a variety of

animal and plant motifs, while Plant a tree, send a message:

Ecology, responsibility and activism will pay more attention

to critical practices with certain ecological techniques as

well.

Additionally, when asked about ecological readings

of their work, most of the artists dismissed the label,

stating that they are more interested in urban than

natural surroundings, social relations, and an individual’s

place in society. Apart from using animals as alter egos,

metaphorical motifs and formal inspiration, several of

them acknowledged the communication potential of SAG

and noted several artworks that have ecological messages.

Regarding motivation, reasons for including natural

motifs differ among: inspiration for formal and symbolic

explorations (symbols widely popular and understandable),

love towards the natural world, animals as transmitters of

2 - In the street art and graffiti world, using natural materials is still rare and an emerging practice, that’s why this article focuses mostly on depicted motifs.

emotions and messages, metaphorical greening, search for

spirituality, and alter egos.

3. The Elm-Chanted Forest: Nature as alter ego

Creating and invoking a connection between urban and

natural spaces, at least through images, artists are visually

challenging the often gray and brown city, dilapidated

and discarded areas. Among the most popular motifs

are animals which are culturally infused with symbolism,

according to Claude Levi Strauss, because they are “good

to think with.” On the streets of Belgrade in the past years,

most species in SAG are local animals (domesticated and

wild), with a few examples of exotic and pop culture ones.

There is also a great number of hybrid beings, standing

somewhere between monsters and fantasy creatures.

Artists such as Lunar and Brva emphasize that animals can

transmit emotions and universal values with more sincerity

than humans (or human motifs). According to Lunar, who

is based in Zagreb and has been making art since the late

1980s: “Evolutionally, they were there before humans and

aren’t capable of causing such damage (to the environment)

as humans have, they simply exist” (Interview with Lunar,

2019). ZEZ lunatic said that “nature is an inevitable motif,

after all, we’re all nature” (Interview with ZEZ lunatic,

2019). By relying on commonplace and personal symbolic

readings, the artist gives animals meanings of happiness and

tenderness (rabbit), wisdom (owl), and strength (bull).3 This

reading is quite personal and often relying on commonplace

assumptions and present cultural symbols.

Several artists create distinct characters that can be

interpreted as alter egos. They stand as signs, visual

signatures, that we can recognize in addition to their overall

style. Given the often anonymity of the creators, these

animals the authors identify with could be seen as their

stand-ins in public space, fulfilling the function of a tag. Rage

(also known as Resto) uses a characteristic animal alter ego

that looks like a fox, as well as a dog called Jackie (Džeki / Џеки.; Figure 8); Lunar is recognizable by his often positive,

good-hearted cats (or tomcat, Catso; Figure 6), wrnkl with

his pug stencils (Figures 18 and 26), and Brva with French

bulldogs (Figure 7).

3 - Other artists depict a variety of animals, both local and global, such as Junk, Weedzor, Lemon One, Oniro (IT), and Ami imaginaire (FR), the latter two leaving a few pieces behind upon visiting Serbia.


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Figure 6. United Colors of Belgrade, Festival Rekonstrukcija 2018. Lunar & Flying Förtress. Belgrade, Serbia, 2018. Photograph

©Street Art Walks Belgrade / STAW BLGRD.

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Piros has a distinct invented animal, which is a hybrid with

a rooster’s head and wasp’s body, called Džamutka (Figure

9). He emphasizes that painting Džamutka is an “expression

of my own freedom statement. She has a noble mission, to

inspire and motivate on her path!” (Interview with Piros,

2019). According to Radošević:

...for its author it represents all the best in this

world – extreme dedication and ability to fly.

And if pushed to the limits it can sting. The name

was derived from the Roma dialect in which

it has a meaning of curse word but it can also

mean something frightful and unseen. Therefore

Džamutka can be everything and nothing and

exactly this contradiction can infuse all sorts of

traits in her” (Radošević, 2020).

Piros’ hybrid is an invented character with great personal

symbolism, and it is rather common to see imaginary

creatures and hybrids.4 As in the case of Džamutka,

cultural background and local history often influences the

4 - Another Belgrade-based artist, Velvet, has a mermaid/octopus character, referencing Ursula from The Little Mermaid, which could stand as her alter ego or at least trademark. Weedzor usually depicts colorful animal faces, while for Runaway Festival 2019 the artist made a unicorn in a project sponsored by Sprite. Artists such as Snout, Endo, and Alek Leaf also often use monster-like or hybrid characters.

artwork, as could be seen with few artists from abroad who

made their mark with a fusion of certain “tribal” elements,

referencing native imagery from Latin America, such as

Farid Rueda (MX, in Belgrade) and Jumu (PE, in Čačak).

Rueda in his two murals so far made as part of the Runaway

Festival painted a deer (Figure 10) and an eagle (the latter

in collaboration with TKV), common forest animals in

Serbia, incorporating them in his complex and rich in color

style blending Mexican popular culture and evoking pre-

Conquest Mexican societies.

Birds are a common motif - Brva made one of his early

murals of an owl, while TKV and Jana often depict swallows

(Figure 11). Jana analyses the bird motif as representing a

personal and social need to (not)belong to a group identity:

Birds were a handy metaphor - if you pull

out a bird (from the swarm) she’s a freedom

symbol, and when you push her in the swarm

she becomes part of a multitude of sameness,

something that doesn’t have an identity (of its

own) (Kalaba, 2019).

As we can see in this example, the reading fluctuates

depending on the context. Similar is with another example.

Rats are expected companions during the night when most

SAG artists do their magic, and are often referenced on the

walls of Belgrade. An undisclosed artist known simply as


Figure 7. Festival Rekonstrukcija 2019. Brva, Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©Festival Rekonstrukcija.

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Figure 8. Џеки. Rage. Belgrade,

Serbia, 201?. Photograph ©Street

Art Walks Belgrade / STAW

BLGRD.

Figure 9. Džamutka. Piros. Belgrade, Serbia, 2018. Photograph ©Piros.

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Figure 10. Runaway Festival & Donji Dorćol. Farid Rueda. Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©Street Art Walks Belgrade /

STAW BLGRD.

Ratz (or Rats) made a series of human-sized rat characters

engaging in everyday activities and street scenes in 2013,

reimagining the city dwellers as living in a hood (Figure

12). TKV - Kraljica Vila (The Fairy Queen) - also made a

rat series between 2018 and 2019 (Figure 13), where she

accepts them as one of street art & graffiti symbols. And this

should be no surprise given the popular imagery of artists

such as Banksy (UK) and before him Blek le rat (FR), the

latter leaving his traces in the yard of the Cultural Center

Magacin (Belgrade) in 2009. Blek le rat famously said that

the rat is “the only free animal in the city” and their image

reminds city people of often invisible and suppressed urban

elements (I Support Street Art, 2017).

Insects are also a notable theme. Quam dedicated most of

his recent art to natural motifs, using them to explore formal

qualities. Murals of monarch butterfly’s hatching (made for

DUK Festival 2019; Figure 34), scarab and longhorn beetle

(Figure 14), or drawings of crickets, cicadas, moths and the

rest stand as poetic interpretations of the natural world,

often with a symbolism of rebirth and transformation

(series Metamorphosis), if not just fascination. However,

Quam prefers when the message is subtle and not imposing:

“I like the form of living creatures, they are rewarding to

draw because they have a lot of information and could be

used in a variety of contexts” (Interview with Quam, 2020).

Relying on the fantastic and metaphorical, several artists

have been depicting human-plant hybrids. Artez has a

series of humans who in place of heads and torsos have

plants, or humans with bird houses as heads, inviting the

birds in (Figure 15). This could be read as an attempt to

acknowledge the (need for) nature inside of us (Interview

with Artez, 2020). In a wider field of urban art, plants are

also used as an ally, often tackling issues such as activism,

community and urban regeneration (see: Pedersen, 2018).

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Figure 11. Jana. Belgrade, Serbia, 2017. Photograph ©Jana Danilović.

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Many artists stated that by depicting natural motifs they

are symbolically and visually participating in a project of

making Belgrade greener. Junk, as well as Piros and Artez,

emphasizes that his murals contribute to the effect of

greenification of the city. In his words:

There is not a specific message, more an effect,

it’s interesting for me to take natural elements

and invented characters and put them in an

urban space and to have that colorfulness -

which I often employ in my work - popping out

from the concrete grayness (Interview with

Junk, 2019).

Spring Vibes (Figure 16) and Mother Nature murals, as well

as his contribution to the Rekonstrukcija Festival 2018 bear

witness to this statement. Another artist, Marko Ćulum,

following this thread, states that creating a mural is just

a part of activities one could do to make the environment

look better, and that he as an artist can provide “a game for

the eye, an impulse” to make one’s day better in the city’s

concrete grayness (Banić, 2020).

Another well present scene is forest and farm, as a personal

project or a setting for collaborations. Artists such as Junk

and Snout depict a variety of plants, animals and often

symbols grouped together. But the most striking ones

might be the large-scale graffiti jams, such as Meeting of

Styles 2010 and Runaway Festival 2018 (Figure 17). The

collaborative large-scale mural made for the latter offers

a possible interpretation of the famous Animal Farm novel

by George Orwell, where Brva contributed a pack of dogs

and sheep. Animals serve as symbols of e.g. freedom,

independence, struggle, and love, and that through street

art the artist wants to communicate those messages. Brva

claims that this aspect of his work can be seen as ecological

because “...it draws attention to specific types of animals

which require (that) attention” (Interview with Brva,

2020). While attention is good, as a prerequisite for further

ecological actions, it raises the question - what next? Fitting

well with the environmental art definition, these examples

are trying to address ecological questions from within the

art world, via aesthetics. But how to create stronger, more

purposeful messages and links with the ecosystem? This

will be further explored in the next two chapters.


Figure 12. Rats. Belgrade, Serbia, 2013. Photograph


Figure 13. TKV. Belgrade, Serbia, 2018. Photograph


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Figure 14. Quam. Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©Igor Svetel / Walls of Belgrade.

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Figure 15. Artez. Belgrade,

Serbia, 2017. Photograph

©Artez.

Figure 16. Spring vibes pt. 2.

Junk. Belgrade, Serbia, 2016.

Photograph ©Junk.

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Figure 17. Runaway Festival 2018. Belgrade, Serbia, 2018. Photograph ©Vatovec.

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4. Urban Jungle: Commenting on the environment

While most of the previous examples were not made

specifically to foster a direct (or sometimes conscious)

ecological message, and most artists usually avoid putting

“eco” in front of their works, nevertheless there are

murals with general ecological messages. Ecology, usually

understood as a human’s relation to the natural world, can be

understood as using natural motifs to comment on our wider

environment. In her research about how environmentally

engaged urban street art provokes interactions between

various urbanites with the environment, Claire Malaika

Tunnacliffe notes:

The environment does not stand-alone against

political, social or economic issues; our daily

reality is woven out of these entanglements.

Environmentally engaged urban street art

reflects this by critiquing everyday life through

the social interstices it creates, and revealing

new environmental understandings, raising an

awareness of surroundings (Tunnacliffe, 2016:

18).

Figure 18. wrnkl. Belgrade, Serbia, 2014. Photograph

©Inspektor Yoda Zgužvani.

Festival Rekonstrukcija in Belgrade (Figures 7 and 21)

recognized this potential for street art to address and

collaborate with the communities in and via public space,

paving the road to a more general citizen activism:

Art interventions set in the context of everyday

people’s lives, in neighborhoods, can influence a

new reading of the city (parts) in a multifaceted

way, creating new urban contexts and connecting

people. By positioning the art in public space, it

[public space, author’s note] stops being faceless

and closed for communication, rather, on the

contrary, calls for a dialogue - between the

city and individuals, between the inhabitants

themselves, but also by provoking the creation

of other artworks, which juxtaposed make new

relations (Marković, 2020: 5).

While collaboration with communities, if not the ecologists

themselves, in this sphere remains scarce, artists do see the

power in public art, which is a valuable resource for more

active community engagement. In chapter 3, I mentioned

a few uses of alter egos - some other artists use them as

commentators on society (and the urban environment),

that I like to label street philosophers. From the past

years, some of the most prominent ones on the streets of

Belgrade have been wrnkl, Vudemn (an actual philosopher)

and Orbot. wrnkl - also known as inspektor Joda zgužvani

(inspector Yoda the wrinkled) has taken an image of one

of his pugs as the literal face for his messages. Made as

stencils, with added speech balloons, the pugs comment,

often with almost untranslatable word plays, on gender

relations, subvert common sayings, and generally play with

language loaded with an activist mindset (Marčetić, 2014).

A few examples include: “Izvini, nisi moj (stereo)tip” (Sorry,

you ain’t my (stereo)type), “Duga je ulica” (The street is long/

rainbow), “Ne tuci (p)se” (Don’t beat dogs/yourself) and

“Strah rađa nasilje” (Fear gives birth to violence; Figure 18).

On a more general level, the artist sees that animals have

the spiritual potential to reconnect us to nature, reminding

us of an alienated world that has therefore become even

magical, and aims to present animals as equal to, if not

above, humans (Interview with wrnkl, 2019).

Artists such as ZEZ lunatic created a world full of

anthropomorphic beasts and animals, raging on and

from the walls, in a surreal, comic book-like setting. He

mentioned in the interview that his goal is to both express

emotions and offer a critique of contemporary society,

mainly capitalism, consumerism and materialism, such as in

the mural More food for people (Figure 19), targeting fast

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Figure 19. More food for people. ZEZ lunatic. Belgrade, Serbia, 2018. Photograph ©ZEZ lunatic.

food chains such as KFC and McDonalds (Interview with

ZEZ lunatic, 2019). The artist finds it important to raise the

consciousness of the onlookers: “For me, it’s enough just to

create a reaction, whatever it might be. Lethargy is worse

than any bad reaction” (Milošević, 2018).

Nevercrew from Switzerland made their Imitation of life no.

9 depicting a paint machine going over an old blue (actually

sperm) whale, made for Mikser festival 2014 (Figure 20).

Often using endangered species, such as whales and polar

bears in their poetic interpretations of our environmental

challenges, Nevercrew said that: “It’s about transformation,

evolution, which are all ideas very current in this area

(Savamala)” (Bambić, 2014a). We could also assume the city

itself represented as the sea mammal, old but still standing,

putting up with another renovation by the machines, while

remaining the same at its core.

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Poetic and symbolic approach is also utilized by Jana

who covered many walls with jungle-like plants and often

presents human hearts intertwined with swallows, waves,

plants, and other elements that have personal and symbolic

meanings. These are made as large-scale murals and more

intimate paste ups, where Jana literally plants a seed in

us: a heart made for Rekonstrukcija Festival 2018 has a

growing branch poking out of it (Figure 21). Another, The

Heart of the Mountain at Divčibare mountain was made

for the Mountain Music Festival in 2018,5 making a rare

intervention into the natural surrounding itself (Figure

22). By utilizing visual symbols, she constructs a metaphor

somewhere between notions of tameness/civilization/

smoothness and wildness (in a positive light), linking our

inner wilderness with the one surrounding us (Interview

5 - http://mmf.rs/2019/05/

with Jana, 2019). Here, the connection is direct, by using

widely recognized (heart, plants) symbols, and setting the

hearts in certain context (abandoned building, mountain),

the artist is able to communicate her message with less

ambiguity.

Artez usually combines plants with humans and their

intimate surroundings, offering a connection with nature,

but also ecological messages. Works such as Plant a tree,

send a message (Figure 1); Unexpected journey through the

day 3: Help her grow; Reading makes you grow (Figure 23)

and many others offer both a message of greening the city

and personal, doable engagements that everyone can do

in our daily lives. In general, when asked about ecological

aspects of his work, the artist aims to be more aware while

working, not leaving trash behind him, recycling materials

and tools, and so on. “What I like most is spending time in


Figure 20. Imitation of life no. 9. Nevercrew. Belgrade, Serbia, 2014. Photograph ©Ana Bambić Kostov / Widewalls.

http://mmf.rs/2019/05/

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Figure 22. Srce planine (The hearth of the mountain). Jana. Divčibare, Serbia, 2018. Photograph ©Mountain Music Fest.

Figure 21. Festival Rekonstrukcija 2018. Jana. Belgrade,

Serbia, 2018. Photograph ©Street Smart Belgrade.

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nature, that’s why I’m trying to bring a bit of greenery to the

space I’m working in by using floral motifs” (Interview with

Artez, 2020). Junk says similarly: “My works in a way point

to the fact that we need more green areas in the city, and by

using colors and motifs from nature I’m creating an image

about how important it is for a city to have its little green

oases” (Interview with Junk, 2019).

Lunar with his cats (Catso) has an underlying belief to

promote universal messages of a good and constructive

world, as shown in his murals Daily care for nature,

Protectors (Figure 24) and Savage Love. In the survey,

Lunar noted grimly that many ecological solutions, such

as recycling, have been globally used to “smudge our

eyes” instead of contributing to real social change. He is

disappointed with human ignorance of ecology, and “...

aware of my own powerlessness, but just the same I don’t

plan only to sit down and look at the downfall that we’re

presented with by the hordes of parasites [corrupted

politicians]” (Interview with Lunar, 2019).

Duo Studio Kriška made a fictitious and allegorical

Endangered Savamala’s Ghost Panda in Belgrade (Figure

25), as part of their wider project Ghost people of Savamala,

with an interesting social twist: “...he represents all the

repressed inhabitants of Savamala, the ones without a voice,

that are not seen or are pushed aside, but are still a part of

the community” (Kriška studio, 2013; also: Start Street Art

Belgrade, 2014a). This and most of previous works rely

on symbolic and often poetic and subtle reading of our

environment, reflecting on the society and communicating a

personal need for closer links with the natural world. A way

towards activism and more bold ecological involvement

could be made by incorporating ecological findings and less


Figure 23. Reading makes you grow, Campo en Blanco project. Artez. Armstrong, Argentina, 2016. Photograph ©Firma

creative.

ambiguous messages.

5. It’s our responsibility...: Ecology and activism

In discussing various practices of reverse graffiti, Veronika

Norvaišaitė notes that art in the streets has social potentials

and in her research underlines that “...creators of reverse

graffiti are much more driven by the possibility to beautify

neglected places and improve the social atmosphere there

than by a desire to bring to attention the issue of pollution”

(78). In other words, they seem equally interested in

influencing the social and the physical environment. In the

case of Belgrade, the social aspect - beautification and pro-

ecological messages - seem to be predominant, still with a

few notable eco technical interventions lining towards eco

graffiti and eco art.

Many artists are focused on humans and their relation to

the city environment and nature. wrnkl’s philosophical

messages, as previously mentioned, target homo- and

trans- phobias, violence towards people and animals (as

in Ne tuci (p)se - Don’t beat dogs/yourself, Figure 26),

and aim to influence people’s perceptions in a playful and

activist way. Another example is a green mountain goat

pushing a domino-like structure in Piros’ mural made as

part of Be pArt Budva Festival in 2018 (Figure 27). For this

mural the artist stated in his portfolio: “The main purpose

of this project is to spread [e.g. talk about, author’s note]

the negative attitude of young people towards improper

construction, unplanned urbanism and the irresponsible

behaviour of humanity towards nature and its resources”

(Piros, 2020: 27).

In Pop Lukina street no. 6 in Belgrade, we have a mini

case study which shows two different voices in the eco

story, both which gain their strength from knowing and

incorporating the local context in the artwork itself. The

first one was made as part of Belef 09 festival, with BLU’s

piece The tree eater. BLU (IT), still keeping an anonymous

identity, creates large-scale often site-specific murals on a

global scale, infused with critical and activist commentary

of social relations, values and current politics. The Belgrade

one presents a business person with buildings instead of

teeth devouring a green tree (Figure 28). “The message is

clear - nature loses the battle with urban expansion and

enormous developmental projects which are destroying it

91


Figure 24. Protector. Lunar. Zagreb, Croatia, 2019.

Photograph ©Lunar.

Figure 25. Endangered Savamala’s Ghost Panda.

Studio Kriška. Belgrade, Serbia, 2013. Photograph

©selenborcbakan.

92

day by day” (Start Street Art Belgrade, 2014b). The mural

is more current than ever given that the city government

has initiated many reconstruction projects in the past years

that removed trees and previously green spaces by filling

them with concrete and insisting on the “concretization” of

public space (Tešić, 2019). This is all happening in a period

when there is a rising concern about the air quality, which

has dramatically worsened during the 2019/2020 winter

period.

The newer mural is Zeleni grad - nova energija (The green

city - new energy) initiated by NIS (Naftna industrija

Srbije - Oil company of Serbia), which had a petrol pump

just underneath BLU’s piece (Figure 29). Designed by Sara

Antov and Dragan Vuković, and executed by the Paint

Kartel graffiti crew, the mural imagines the interconnected

city like a leaf with its veins. It serves a marketing purpose

(Danas, 2018), signaling an ecological dedication of the

company and a vision of a green future (if already not the

present), which features more green areas followed by art.

Two years afterwards, the muralization has not been

continued and the ecological potential of many public

spaces is unrealized, if not already erased with concrete.

“The big companies nowadays are, ironically, the ones to be

the loudest in carrying on campaigns for protection of the

natural environment and investing big money in recycling

which became a profitable business as well” (Start Street

Art Belgrade, 2014b). The tree eater and The green city

showcase two approaches, coming from a personal activism

and urban redevelopment. While the former became a

reality, in its 11th year of existence, the latter stands as a

fragile promise.

Looking back at motifs, while many animals seem to be

accepted as a global imagery, ready to be used anywhere,

some of them are specifically linked to local and endangered


Figure 27. Be pArt Budva festival. Budva, Montenegro, 2016.

Photograph ©Fondacija Budva.

Figure 26. Ne tuci (p)se. wrnkl. Srebrno jezero, Serbia, 2014.

Photograph ©wrnkl.

93


Figure 29. Zeleni grad - nova energija. Sara Antov and Dragan Vuković. Belgrade, Serbia, 2018. Photograph ©NIS.

Figure 28. The tree eater. BLU. Belgrade, Serbia, 2009.

Photograph ©Start Street Art Belgrade.

94


Figure 30. Odgovornost je naša za orla krstaša. Piros. Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©Igor Svetel / Walls of Belgrade.

species. Another “urban-ecological” artwork by Piros

represents the eastern imperial eagle (orao krstaš) that

was unveiled in the lower Dorćol area, tied to a campaign

by LAV beer and the Bird Protection and Study Society

of Serbia (BPSSS), supported by the Association of Lower

Dorćol (Figure 30). The aim of the campaign was to protect

endangered birds and their habitat and rebuild it at Fruška

Gora mountain. According to the mural initiators, at the

time (2019), although the eagle is the national symbol,

only one nesting pair was found in the country and BPSSS

worked hard to provide them all the necessary resources

to reproduce (B92, 2019; Piros, 2020: 41). In an example

from neighboring Montenegro, Mišo Joskić depicted a

deforestation scene warning the public about the habitat

loss of black woodpeckers, initiated by the Center for

Protection and Research of Birds (CZIP) (Đurović, 2018;

Figure 31). Apart from being related to larger call-for-

action projects, these works provide more context and

involvement, by bringing attention to animals which require

it, to paraphrase Brva’s words.

As far as my knowledge goes, there have not been any

continuous and actual attempts to use reverse graffiti or

similar techniques in Belgrade.6 A Youtube video shows

Moose (UK), one of the founders of reverse graffiti or clean

tagging, who worked on a hallway in Belgrade in 2011

with a few fine arts students.7 Recently, in 2019, Belgrade

artist Ivan Kocić made a mural Griffon Vulture (beloglavi

sup) using recycled materials, an extension of his Recycling

of Play assemblage project, which could be an interesting

way forward, mixing mural and installation art (Figure 32).8

Together with Piros’ eagle mural, it tackles a sensitive bird

species, which was luckily saved from near-extinction.

Additionally, it is also part of a wider environmental project,

supported by the EU, and was made in collaboration with

school kids (Evropa.rs, 2019).

Recently, in autumn 2020, a mural was made as part

of Converse City Forests project, the very first one in

6 - wrnkl mentioned an intention to do moss graffiti, but hasn’t done so yet (Interview with wrnkl, 2019). 7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0nHYRFm5JA 8 - https://www.instagram.com/p/BztR9yAIsxG/ A prominent international example of eco alternative street art techniques could be found in the works of Bordalo II (Figure 5).

95


Figure 31. Crna žuna ne može bez šuma. Mišo Joskić. Podgorica, Montenegro, 2018. Photograph ©Mišo Joskić.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0nHYRFm5JA

https://www.instagram.com/p/BztR9yAIsxG/

96

Serbia which uses colors9 that actively clean the air from

pollutants (Figure 33). This technology is based on the

photocatalytic process naturally present in the Earth’s

atmosphere (Banić, 2020). Artists Artez and Wuper

created a scene called Celebrating our roots inspired by

tradition and ecology, where one of the characters depicted

has a bouquet of flowers instead of their head (Arsić, 2020).

In a podcast about ecological street art, Wuper mentioned

that the ecological colors gave “mural a good story behind

it” and how the artist hopes the technique would come to

life, especially in cities like Belgrade (Banić, 2020). In the

current absence of other practices, technically this mural

is the closest Belgrade came to eco-art in the streets, by

incorporating materials which actively contribute to the

environment’s wellbeing. Here we could have an example

of what nikolić calls “a cohabitation of agencies, human and

other-than-human” (nikolić, 2016: 51), where the active

colors and their interaction with polluted air are integral

part - conceptually and physically - of the artwork.

9 - http://www.knoxoutpaints.com/about.do?id=20800

6. Conclusions

Given the pieces present in Belgrade streets and the specific

artworks by the artists who responded to the survey, one

can see that most ecological actions come from personal,

aesthetic programs, with a few examples of direct activism.

While few would categorize their initiatives as ecological,

given the public aspect of their work and motivations to

make art, it is evident that street art and graffiti have great

potential in talking about our environment. Given the rapid

industrialization and increasing migrations to big cities

worldwide, Tunnacliffe states that street art does have

potentials to “rewrite” the urban environment:

It is important to remember that nature and

society do not exist in isolation from one

another. Everyday life in the urban setting is

made up of social and natural entanglements.

To ignore their relation to one another is to

ignore the very fabric of today’s urban society,

maintaining the invisible barriers between the

two (Tunnacliffe, 2016: 7).


Figure 32. Beloglavi sup (Griffon Vulture). Ivan Kocić. Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©A. Malko / Ras Srbija.

http://www.knoxoutpaints.com/about.do?id=20800

97


Figure 33. Celebrating our roots. Artez & Wuper. Belgrade, Serbia, 2020. Photograph ©Igor Svetel / Walls of Belgrade.

98

This statement provides ground to understand one’s work

in the streets as potentially artivistic. Therefore, it is my

goal to find a way of approaching street art and graffiti with

ecological potentials. However, it would not be beneficial to

force ecological readings onto the artists’ work, as to quote

Quam, “themes of preserving the natural environment

are almost never present in my work. I think I’d change

profession if I wanted to deal with those topics. I use

elements from urban and natural surroundings in my works

to often tell a personal story or because they are interesting

as drawing templates” (Interview with Quam, 2020). On the

other hand, Brva says “the connection (between SAG and

ecology) is of course possible only if ecology is honored in

all aspects of a mural, from creation to the message itself”

(Interview with Brva, 2020). I feel that if the work itself is not

closely related to an artist’s oeuvre, it can lose much of its

creativity and power; likewise, if it’s solely a beautification

project, it has a bleak ecological potential.

Most artists agreed that a way forward towards eco art

would be to use more eco-friendly colors (as with the

newest example by Artez and Wuper), recycling (Kocić) and

a purposeful ecological activism (Piros’s eagle). Certainly, if

remaining within traditional, not biodegradable techniques

or less polluting colors (such as acrylics), SAG could still rely

on an aesthetic greenification of the gray city walls, focusing

primarily on communication of ecological messages, which

many artists see as a great potential. To achieve it, more

work is needed on researching the current ecological

challenges, local context and ways how to address the

public. Support and momentum gained from city projects

that aim to tackle ecological issues has its benefits, and

could be used creatively by the artists, however avoiding

traps of greenwashing and relying solely on projects to do

continuous eco work.

On the other side, scientists and researchers according

to Curtis, Reid, and Ballard, have mostly overlooked

the potential role of the arts in disseminating scientific

findings, although the arts have a history of social activism.

According to them:

The arts can synthesize and convey complex

scientific information, promote new ways of

looking at issues, touch people’s emotions, and

create a celebratory atmosphere, as was evident

in this case study. In like manner, the visual and

performing arts should be harnessed to help

extend the increasingly unpalatable and urgent

messages of global climate change science to

a lay audience worldwide (Curtis, Reid, and

Ballard, 2012).


Figure 34. DUK Festival 2019. Quam. Čačak, Serbia, 2019. Photograph ©DUK Festival.

While both artists and ecologists can benefit from mutual

collaboration on these issues, many raise concerns on

how these initiatives could be framed and used. In her

research about reverse graffiti, Norvaišaitė notes: “Since

eco communication has seen a growing mistrust when

coming from the government and industries (...), and

graffiti is supposedly a socio-political commentary free

of mainstream influences, street art could be a potential

channel of environmental communication” (Norvaišaitė,

2014: 3). As an independent practice, within SAG ecological

murals could tackle biodiversity and shift attitudes, where

both the artists and the viewers are directly visually

engaged in its ecological messages (Arrieta, 2014), whether

part of official projects or bottom-up initiatives.

Turning to local and endangered species, these artworks

could be more site-specific, linking history, biology and

activism in raising awareness. A very good example is

ATM (UK) who mainly depicts local species that are always

connected to the local history and environment, whether

present, endangered, or already lost. With continuous,

contextualized and well researched bird murals, his aim is to

inspire care and conservation (ATM, 2017). This approach

has potential especially when involving the community -

from scientists, artists, to regular people - as stakeholders,

such as in the example of Curlew mural done as part of

Endangered 13 conservation effort where street art raised

visibility of disappearing species in the UK (Figure 39).10

The actual example of Festival Rekonstrukcija in Belgrade

stands as a living example how an art initiative could foster

both new production, community engagement and express

10 - http://humannatureshow.com/endangered13/

99


Figure 35. Curlew. ATM. London, 2016. Photograph ©ATM.

http://humannatureshow.com/endangered13/

100

solidarity (Marković, 2020).

Of course, the most obvious way requires abandoning the

traditional techniques and going towards experimentation,

turning to moss and/or reverse graffiti, if not other

art mediums. However, reverse graffiti does not equal

direct ecological messages; artists could tackle nature

and the urban surroundings in a wider way, beautifying

neglected surfaces and improving the living atmosphere

(Norvaišaitė, 2014: 57-69). At the present moment, these

experimental techniques could provide both a challenge

for implementation and ways of demonstrating originality,

given its present lack in the Belgrade.

As a conclusion, street art and graffiti are without doubt part

of the urban ecosystem, with potentials to aesthetically and

critically reflect on it. Apart from its great communication

power, by supporting deeper engagement, research and

collaboration, as well as eco techniques and even activism,

SAG in Belgrade could gain a critical edge and scientific

base (as in contemporary eco art), becoming a stronger

stakeholder in making the city really more green.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the artists, Charlotte Whelan,

Ljiljana Radošević and Pedro Soares Neves, for making this

article possible.

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Artez (2020, January 10). Online interview.

Brva (2020, February 02). Online interview.

Jana (2019, October 01). Online interview.

Junk (2019, October 18). Online interview.

Lunar (2019, October 09). Online interview.

Piros (2019, October 17). Online interview.

Quam (2020, January 21). Online interview.

wrnkl (2019, October 01). Online interview.

ZEZ lunatic (2019, October 18). Online interview.

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street art & graffiti in belgrade: ecological potentials?

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